Despite differences almost all the militant factions agree that fighting inside Kashmir is the holiest jihad, reports Tahir Ali in Islamabad
With cracks emerging in the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, its operatives are now joining the Punjabi Taliban, which is a growing threat not only for Indian but also Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence
Chief Minster Punjab Shahbaz Sharif is continuously denying the influence of militants in his province but it is fact that Punjab is home to a mix of sectarian and other form of militants.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has stated that it is willing to declare ceasefire if the Pakistan government withdraws from the US-led war on terror and forms a new foreign policy in accordance to the holy Quran and Sunnah.
Top Taliban commander Usman Punjabi has been killed during in-fighting within militant groups at the North Waziristan Agency in Pakistan.Talking to rediff.com via phone from North Waziristan's Shakir Dawar, a local tribesman said, "Fighting erupted among two groups of the Punjabi Taliban. Usman Punjabi, along with three companions, and two persons from the rival group were killed on the spot." Punjabi was an active member of the Punjabi Taliban.
According to the Daily Times, the Punjabi Taliban has broken off from LeT, and refuse to take orders from Lashkar supremo Hafiz Saeed.
Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has claimed that the Punjabi Taliban are preparing for a massive terror attack in the country.
A family rivalry over property was behind the assassination of former Pakistan Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, who was gunned down earlier this year, and the killing was not religiously motivated, a media report said on Tuesday.
Ilyas Kashmiri, considered one of the masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, was behind the assassination of Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti earlier this year, according to a media report on Tuesday.
Claiming responsibility for the audacious attack that left at least 30 dead -- on two mosques of the Ahmadis sect in Lahore, the Punajb Taliban vowed to intensify attacks against the sect whom they describe as "worst infidels than Jews".
The son of a former Inter Services Intelligence official, who was abducted and killed by militants, has filed an application with the Pakistani police in which he has held popular TV anchor Hamid Mir and a Punjabi Taliban leader responsible for the murder.
Having steered clear of North Waziristan for years, Pakistan army is contemplating an offensive into the restive area fearing that it may have become a "witches brew of jihadi groups".
The two commanders identified only as Iqbal and Gul Muhammad, both hailing from Faisalabad were arrested earlier this week by law enforcement agencies.
Pakistani law enforcement agencies on Sunday claimed to have made a breakthrough in their probe into the recent three near-simultaneous terror attacks on security facilities in Lahore by arresting a Punjabi Taliban militant, from whom banned literature and 'jihadi' compact discs were also seized.
Tahir Ali profiles the Amjad Farooqi and Ilyas Kashmiri groups, responsible for the recent surge of terrorism in Pakistan.
Slamming Pakistan for not taking action against the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, a United States report on counter-terrorism on Wednesday said India remained severely affected by and vulnerable to terrorism, including from Pakistan-based groups.
'ISI mouthpieces in the media have been quick to blame India for the attack. Clearly, the intellect and worldview of these characters (which includes fairly senior retired military officers) is based on Bollywood movies like Ek Tha Tiger and Agent Vinod... More seriously, the fact that ISI touts have been using this opportunity to train their guns on India raises serious questions about all the talk of the army being on the same page as the civilian government on the issue of improving relations with India,' says Sushant Sareen.
Through its early days to the 1980s, Pakistan sought to expand its sphere of Islamic influence through Afghanistan to Central Asia and got Pakistani citizens recruited in the Afghan government institutions in the 1990s when the Taliban were power. Now, it is looking eastward through India to Bangladesh and Myanmar to establish an imaginary caliphate.
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